Olympics: Japanese trio impress to move into big air snowboard final

Japan's three high-flying medal hopefuls safely negotiated the women's snowboard big air qualification round at the Beijing Olympics on Monday to progress into the final.Kokomo Murase, Reira Iwabuchi and Miyabi Onitsuka took three of the top five slots at the spectacular Big Air Shougang venue, with New Zealand slopestyle gold medalist at the Beijing Games, Zoi Sadowski Synnott, leading the way.Murase, 17, was the best of the Japanese threesome, putting down three excellent jumps. Her first, a backside 1080 with a weddle grab, and her third, a frontside 1080 with a melon grab, giving her a …READ FULL ARTICLE